For years, cable TV has bled viewers and subscribers to streaming giants like Netflix, Apple and Amazon. Now, those same companies are vying to stream live sports, one of the last lines of defence when it comes to audiences paying big bucks for traditional cable packages.
AppleTV+ has a 10 year, multibillion-dollar deal to stream MLS soccer matches and also streams some MLB games. Netflix has paid to secure the rights to WWE wrestling.
But Amazon was among the first streamers to aggressively bid on broadcast rights for a range of sports, and just this week, it added Monday night NHL games to its offerings.
“We’re committed to driving more innovation for fans as we bring the NHL into more Canadian homes and across more devices on Monday nights than ever before,” said Magda Grace, head of Prime Video, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in a news release.
Rogers would sell their own mothers to get rid of those broadcasting rights all together. It has not been the boon they thought it was going to be. American side, they’ve been dealing with huge downturns in numbers too (one of their regional broadcast partners even went broke, and most fingers are pointing at the cost of these rights).
So it’s onto the streamers. Who’ll inevitably start putting paywalls on top of it, which will likely drive away quite a lot of fans. I’m already getting sick of being nickel and dimed by these streaming companies, who multiply by the day and their greed has led them to overtake the evil they were supposed to be replacing (cable). It’ll be the start of the NHL downfall in fact, and likely Bettman’s swan song. That’s my prediction.